The official website of Tom Rielly,
entrepreneur, raconteur, et humoriste

February 11, 2015

Apple, Inc. (AAPL) announced this afternoon that it would acquire the state of Alabama, and all of its counties. According to the company, this all-cash transaction should not be dilutive to shareholders, using only .013 percent of available reserves.

While iOS is widely available throughout Alabama, Android is only available in nine counties, twelve refuse to allow the Google Play store to operate, and 46 counties have cut off access to both iOS and Android. While there have been select unboxing events in the nine regions, in many others couples have tried to buy new mobile devices and been turned away.

"Apple believes in equality of opportunity of all operating systems and are moving aggressively to make both platforms available all over my state," said Alabaman native Tim Cook, Apple CEO.

In a preemptive strike, Apple has relocated their 57th St. Glass Cube over Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore and his home in a move that appears to echo Act Up's action towards a southern senator nearly 30 years earlier.

"The new glass prevents all electronic transmissions from entering or leaving his home. Devices will get five bars outside the perimeter, but inside Judge Moore will get only "No Signal," said Leslie Cheung, Apple product marketing manager for social justice. "We believe this will dampen his mischief while country waits for C|Net's nine product reviewers in Washington D.C. to issue their evaluation in June.

Those close to the website believe that the reviewers will issue a ruling ensuring mobile operating system equality nationwide. "I overheard them at CES and they wouldn't have agreed to revisit products they've already reviewed if they weren't intending to make their ratings national," said Re/Code reporter Faye Carriage.

Meanwhile the Apple CEO has asked that members of both the Auburn Football and Duke Basketball teams fan out across the state to try to persuade reluctant Probate Judges to reconsider. "People say we're just dumb jocks, said Nick Montana, Tulane's starting quarterback. The trick is we're all also minoring in constitutional law both at the state and national levels. We're eager and ready to argue the finer points of Alabama probate jurisprudence."

Back in Santa Clara, CA, neutral ground between Cupertino and Mountain View, Google VP of Android Sundar Pichai and Apple Senior Vice-President Craig Federighi appeared at a rare joint press conference urging the Alabama courts to get the bits flowing going again and do the best thing for the state's users. "Everyone should have the right to an unboxing ceremony anywhere in Alabama and indeed, across the entire country," Pichai contributed. Google has not yet decided whether to file suite to block the acquisition.

Thought the situation on the ground remains someone tense, as Apple scrambles to accommodate a newly out and vocal Windows Phone minority, Apple's stock closed up up $35 to $157 a share.

Note: very affectionate satire. Mention here does not indicate the views or beliefs of any company or individual.

August 12, 2014

Robin Williams was the most wonderful man. Kind, generous to a fault. He had the most intense blue eyes, and when he looked at you, you felt special. He appeared at our Digital Queers benefits, donated equipment to gay non-profits through the organization, and invited me to cool events. I will miss him.

Several of the highlights of my life are getting to improvise together just us two, and laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. The very best part was making HIM crack up. Nirvana.

I first met Robin at the invitation of my dear friend Russell Preston Brown at Adobe who hosted a photoshop invitational for luminaries. And Russell is the perfect convener/ringmaster/master illusionist so it was an experience to remember. We had so much fun that day, even if we weren't yet ready to retouch the cover of Vogue by the end.

For a short period I was his Mac consultant or one of them. Dye Sub printers and Mac Quadras for him and Performas for everyone else in the family.

We'd run into each other on the floor of MacWorld Expo or in the Fifth Ave. Apple Store at 2 in the morning (he with a very large security man). He has a wonderful family that it's been my pleasure to get to know a bit. I don't want to overrepresent our friendship, I didn't see him often. But every time he would burst into a wide smile say "Tom Rielly" in a funny voice, and give me a huge bear hug, and then improv. I was so happy when his son finally brought him to TED.

One story: From 1990-1995 Karen Wickre and my group Digital Queers held fundraisers at MacWorld to raise money to buy computers and technology for queer non-profits. I asked him if he'd come. I never dreamed of asking him to perform, but he volunteered. I'd brought a Genie doll from Aladdin just in case, and, while holding the doll, he did this hilarious riff on his ongoing lawsuit with Disney, among other things (see below). At the end, one of his companions said "you can't share that (due to the lawsuit)." I said no problem. It was our private thing, just for our audience, just for that night. He needed no script, no practice, he just was on.

He knew of some of my challenges and would always ask how I was doing, without prompting. I can truly say that I love that man heart and soul. I empathize with his struggles more than you can imagine. I am gutted. This is a day of tears.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Jan. 12--The 800 or so computer mavens who forked over $25 each for tickets to last Saturday night's Digital Queers benefit party in SanFrancisco knew their money would help a favorite non-profit group and they'dget a few surprises and some laughs in return.

But revelers got more than a $25 entertainment value when an unexpected guesttook the stage at the Yerba Buena Gardens: comedian Robin Williams.

Williams galvanized the crowd with a 15-minute routine poking fun at gayarch-enemy Sen. Jesse Helms, the Catholic Church and the Walt Disney Co.,with whom Williams has a beef over royalties for lending his voice to thegenie in the movie "Aladdin."

In gratitude, Digital Queers co-founder and Supermac Technology strategistTom Rielly wanted to come up with at least a little trinket for Williams. Aclever T-shirt wasn't digital enough. But when he spotted Apple marketingexecutive Michael Tchao near the stage, a deal was struck. Williams soon willget his own Newton personal digital assistant - along with personal trainingby Tchao.

June 09, 2014

William Kamkwamba has just been awarded a 2014-2014 ideo.org Global Fellowship.The one year program starts October 1st in San Francisco. William will work on products and services for subsistence farmers and other people lacking resources in Africa and Southwest Asia.

The IDEO.org Global Fellowship Program fosters social sector leaders of the future. By bringing together talented people from the design, business, and social sectors, IDEO.org Fellows are working, learning, growing and innovating to make the world a better place.

ideo.org is the non-profit arm of perhaps the most celebrated product and services design firm in the world, IDEO. David Kelley, its founder received an honorary doctorate from Dartmouth in the same ceremony as William and gave the commencement speech at Thayer School of engineering the day before. Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO was there seven years ago when William spoke TEDGlobal 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania.

William was one of four selected from 650+ applicants, most of whom have spent considerably more years in their fields of endeavor. Thank you to ideo.org and IDEO's Jocelyn Wyatt, Patrice Martin, Jessie Chamberlin, Kristin Riger, David Zhou, Joerg Student, Diego Rodriguez, and Tim Brown.

Here are many of the people who loved/helped/mentored/supported/advised William Kamkwamba to this important date and at least part of what they did. It also shows how one person led to another in helping William become who he is. A warm thank you to everyone here from William and me. Speaking for myself, it's nearly impossible to express grateful I am first to everyone here.

(This post is long but you’ll learn at least one thing you didn’t know. Omissions and misspellings inevitable, not on purpose, and I’m responsible not WK. I only know a small fraction of WK's myriad friends. Just IM me)

Gilbert Wimbe, William’s best friend gave him the money to buy the bike generator, last piece of the windmill, son of the former village chief, hence the name

Geoffrey, William’s loyal cousin and close friend. Informal foreman on most WK building projects

Edith Sikelo, the librarian who helped William study after he was refused admission to high school. In her library William found the crucial books “Using Energy” and “Understanding Physics,” which would spark him to build the windmill

Dr. Hartford Mchazime Ph.D. critical player in the story. Worked for the US NGO that gave the library, was convince William deserved a chance, brought national press to visit. Once WK invited to TED, helped him prepare

Mr. Banda, principal Madisi Secondary School. Warm and supportive when William enrolled in high school for the first time

Sangwani Mwafuliriwa Malawi Daily Times journalist who wrote article on William after Mchazime invited him to visit with the other journalists.

Juliana Rotich, Erik Hersman and Soyapi Mumba were TEDGlobal Fellows. Soyapi rode with William on the plane, roomed with him and acted as interpreter when necessary. He’s a public health/technologist.

International Development/Engineer Mike McKay gave William his first treadmill motor, allowing him to make a much more powerful windmill inside a few days.

Lorilee MacLean (& family) was the missionary and high school teacher at the African Bible College Christian Academy, the educator in Malawi willing to take a chance on an older student who was just returning to school. Others said “too late”

Chuck and Joanne Wilson William’s ABCCA principal and his wife embraced William and provided support and guidance

Gerry Douglas, founder of Baobab Health Project. While at ABBCA William lived with him and received amazing mentoring and kindness. Nancy, his housekeeper also helped care for WK

Newly appointed African bureau chief Sarah Childress wrote an A-Hed front page story in the Wall Street Journal after visiting William…

… Which lead literary agent Heather Schroder to contact William….

Heather introduced William to co-author Bryan Mealer who is like WK’s older brother….

…which led to HarperCollins publishing William and Bryan’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Henry Ferris was editor and Lynn Grady, publisher, Seale Ballenger, Tavia Kowalchuk, Shelby Meizlik worked in marketing and PR

….Meanwhile, Fred Swaniker, co-founder with Chris Bradford of the African Leadership Academy invited William to be part of the inaugural class at their pan-African prep school in Joburg, South Africa. William was ably assisted by the fabulous Gavin Hall, and taught and advised by Scott Rubin and Alison Rodseth, with Nicola Hopwood. Githiora Thuku was his roommate and they called each other “roommate.”

Jay & Eileen Walker and family were incredibly supportive during this time

Michael Markiewicz C.P.A. C.F.P. for his expert stewardship of WK's finances and our Moving Windmills non-profit organization and, and his affection and counsel.

During the book tour, Diane Sawyer had Bryan and William on Good Morning America and Jon Stewart had William on the Daily Show where William made Jon Stewart belly laugh…

Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering Development Executive Carol Harlow saw the Sawyer piece and invited WK to come visit Dartmouth and convince WK and Bryan to come even though they were exhausted at the end of their book tour. Without her reaching out, no WK at Dartmouth.

Joseph Helble dean of Thayer was very warm.Maria Laskaris Dartmouth dean of admissions and Benjamin Schwartz encouraged William to apply (he was accepted)

John Collier was William’s freshman advisor and then so much more. He expertly guided William through the programming and processes of the sometimes difficult to navigate school. More important, he embraced William as a member of his own family with his wife Nancy and their two sons, one of whom worked with WK in Malawi. Besides hosting WK at Thanksgivings, on the frozen pond behind his home, he also taught WK how to play hockey.

Karen Goscik his warm and nurturing Writing for International Students professor taught William how to write at college level as well as helped him through his cultural transition.

Christopher and Molly Schmidt. Dartmouth grad and High School educator Christopher Schmidt was William’s tutor, helping him summit the sheer face of the mountain of academic under-preparedness compared to the other incoming students. But he and Molly also welcomed William into their extended family and offered a home away from home near Hanover.

Andrew Friedland, former dean of the Environmental Studies Department was his invaluable upperclass professor and advisor

Academic Dean Brian Reed took a personal interest in William and helped him sort through myriad challenges.

Jacob Walker, Yves-Marie Duperval, Gurkaran Singh are his roommates and close friends the first two roommates since freshman and sophomore years, respectively

Dipo and Mehdi Oulmakki attended Dartmouth from African Leadership Academy, too and are very close friends. The incomparable playwright Ms. Olivia Scott.

All of his other wonderful friends

Andrea Barthello & Bill, Sam, Mike and Ramsay Ritchie. Andrea is William’s American “Mom” and she’s been on this journey for seven years of love, nurturing, guidance and strategy.

My family John Rielly & Irene Rielly, Catherine Rielly, John D. Rielly, Mary Ellen Rielly, Elizabeth Rielly, Fiona Noble, Michèle and Jason Hellinger have embraced William as one of us

Mike and Jackie have been constant believers and supporters in William Thank you to Ruth Ann & Bill, Ann & John, and Lynda for their confidence and support

William has spoken all over the world thanks to the team at HarperCollins Speaker’s Bureau: Jamie Brickhouse, Andrea Rosen, Wade Lucas, Erin Simpson, Caitlin McCaskey, Natalie Duncan, and Gillian WiseInternational Book Editors

Thanks to Megan Wyatt, Katie Donnelly, and Amanda Scarberry of the BFF

To Kitty Boone at the Aspen Institute for offering William a platform as well as personal investment

Thanks to Lauri Hornik, William & Bryan’s children’s book editor at Dial Books for the gorgeous picture book of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, and Eizabeth Zunon the crazy-gifted illustrator whose artwork capture the spirit William as a teenager.

Scott Thrift and Ari Kuschnir of mssng pecs made an award-winning short film about William

The folks at WEF and CGI for their opportunities.

(part 3, the most exciting part, later today) remember, if I left anyone out, it was me, not WK. Let me know and I'll fix

June 06, 2014

Today is the 7th anniversary of the day I met a young man in Arusha, Tanzania, a man who would change my life. Back then I encountered a painfully shy 19 year old who was standing by himself against the wall at TEDGlobal 2007. I asked "My name is Tom, who are you?" He replied "My name is William Kamkwamba and I'm from Malawi." And so began an incredible adventure for both of us, one that neither one of us could have prepared for exactly, where William worked indefatigably to achieve his goals, and for me, where mentoring evolved into parenting.

While we've acknowledged this marker every year, for me, this year's date has special significance. As I got to know him over the conference, I felt like he had earned a right to have a chance at something larger, and I resolved to see if I could do something. I decided to change my flight home after the conference and visit William in Malawi instead. I then realized that Africa is full of white visitors' temporary enthusiasms, where six months' help followed by silence was almost worse than none at all.

Before the trip, before we left TED, I said to him, look, I'll give you seven years. Seven years is enough to get you through high school and college. And nothing you can do or say will make me leave or abandon you. No matter what. I don't know when I have ever made such an emphatic commitment, and at the time the decision was instinct more than insight.*

Recently we had dinner at our traditional restaurant in New York, talking animatedly about his future. (Two amazing things to share in the next couple of days.) When we walked outside and reached the corner we realized it was the same corner where I had first taught him how to cross the street safely.

It's a different world today: William is a confident 26 year old young man who speaks great English, has a education, a exciting work opportunity, has started two for-profit businesses in Malawi and an NGO, and has personally financed and supervised the transformation of his village. Most importantly, many in Wimbe no longer say "It's God's will" meaning, "I'm powerless to change my fate, (especially when something bad happens)," to "Maybe I can."

He's not a symbol, but a real, imperfect person, and it's been a lot of pressure to navigate between being william kamkwamba and WILLIAM KAMKWAMBA. For the last three years he's spent 95% of the time happily lowercase-- as a student.. And there has been sadness as well as joy, as he's lost three of his four grandparents while away at school. Each was a remarkable person in her or his own right, and William was close to each of them, especially his namesake William Sr., who died earlier this year.

He has amazing friends from the U.S., Haiti, India, Kenya, Ghana, all over Africa and the world, and an extended American family including Andrea Barthello and Bryan Mealer that joins his amazing parents Agnes and Trywell, and his six sisters, Annie, Isha, Doris, Rose, Mayless, and Tiyamike plus aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmother. So many friends and supporters have helped him along the way.

But what is most interesting that in all these years of achievement, sharing his story, and notoriety, his character remains fundamentally the same as when we met: (a little bit less) shy, modest, kind, empathetic, curious, ambitious, hard-working and extremely smart.

To say that William has been a gift in my life is trite and woefully inadequate. And while pride is one of the seven deadly sins, in this particularly case I refuse to repent. Needless to say, today hasn't been a expiration date for many years. We will always be family.

April 18, 2014

Don your platinum blond Farrah Fawcett wig and your four-inch heels and run to the Bellasco theater in NYC to buy tickets to see Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He is a revelation in one of my favorite musicals, a 100 minute no intermission intimate extravaganza featuring NPH, one other actor and an amazing rock/punk bands.

Not surprisingly, Harris' comic timing is sharper than a diamond stiletto (heel) and you'll laugh non-stop from the moment he takes stage until the poignant, moving denouement. We already know he has an excellent singing voice, and he seduces you with his subtle acting until you are entranced by his nuanced performance.

John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask have slightly updated the script and songs respectively, since its triumphant Off-Broadway (and around the world) two-year run, though if you're a Hedhead, you'll be intoxicated from the first chord. And who knew that Harris was so hot?

My favorite song is "The Origin of Love," a retelling of Aristophanes' speech from Plato's Symposium* that is lyrical, wistful, with a wonder-inducing staging including beautiful and clever animation staged on multiple planes of set and scrim.

My friend David Binder produced the original show and this revival he could well win a Tony for best revival (jinx). Harris is a shoe-in to be nominated for best Actor, and the sets and lighting should also get nods.

It opens Monday and after that all the tickets will sell out quickly in its limited run. Based on the uproarious crowd reception and shooting ovation, get yours now.

I brought my iPhone with me and the guys were so excited to play with it. Soyapi figured it all out instantly as is his nature; after all, he is the first Twitterer in Malawi, and certainly one of the first in Africa. Then I showed them that it worked on their wifi network and they instantly tried their HIV patient care software which normally operates on touch-screen-retrofitted NetPliance I-Openers running Linux and Firefox. The touch screen terminals allow caregivers to give better care to more patients than using paper charts.

HUGE Smiles all around... Not only did it work perfectly, but the interface actually looked better than its already very high standard,
thanks to Safari on the iPhone interface toolbox. All the touch screen buttons worked just like they do on the full size terminal. It also works great on a Nokia N800 Internet Wifi tablet that Gerry brought from his the other half of the year home in Pittsburgh, although that requires a stylus.

Then Gerry came in and saw the app on the iPhone and the pictures speak for themselves.

June 28, 2006

I've been working on TEDTalks for the last couple of weeks and they finally went live today. Check them out!

TEDTalks bow today TuesdayToday for the first time, we're releasing some of the best TED talks to the world. They're available as a podcast series, TEDTalks, in both audio and video, at http://www.ted.com/tedtalks and http://tedblog.typepad.com. We're launching with six talks, and will add more weekly. They'll be fully searchable, and absolutely FREE.

This is a big moment for us: Until now, TED has been an invitation-only experience, limited to 1,000 people each year. But these talks are so powerful, we felt they deserved a much wider audience... So we partnered with BMW to bring them out to the world.

To ensure the widest possible audience, we're publishing TEDTalks across multiple formats (Flash Video, QuickTime, MP4 video, MP3 audio) and locations (TED.com, TEDBlog (via VideoEgg), iTunes, GoogleVideo, RSS feeds...). They're being released under a creative commons license, so non-commercial sites are free to re-post them, in their entirety. Simple instructions for this will be included in each entry on the TEDBlog.

About the sponsor: Thanks to the support of BMW, we're able to release these talks for free, and distribute them widely. We've really been struck by the passion with which they got behind the idea. Partner-wise, they're a perfect fit, both because of their history of innovation (Chris Bangle, head of BMW Group Design, was a 2002 TED speaker) and their legacy of supporting ground-breaking media (think BMW Films). About the speakers: TEDTalks will launch with 6 inspired presentations: Al Gore's sage advice on living a carbon-neutral life, Hans Rosling's inspired interpretation of global statistics, Ken Robinson's vision for an education system that values creativity; Majora Carter's commitment to environmental justice; Tony Robbins' roadmap for reaching your potential; and David Pogue's software-inspired show tunes. We'll add more talks weekly, pulling primarily from TED2006 and TEDGlobal, but also dipping into previous years.About the search: Powered by Podzinger's speech-recognition technology, it allows you to find keywords or phrases within individual TEDTalks, and then play the video from the moment they're mentioned. (Try searching for "South Bronx" or "carbon neutral"). The transcripts generated aren't perfect — punctuation is often missing, and many of the small connecting words are lost in translation — but they're extremely effective for keyword searching and precision playback.About the production: The TEDTalks video series was created in-house, and edited specifically for the micro-screen (closer shots, faster cuts...) Our audio series was produced with podcast pioneers WNYC/New York Public Radio, and is also edited specifically for the medium, with crisp edits that cut out extraneous elements (prolonged introductions, AV problems, commentary on visual information the listener can't see, etc)

About the goal: I think it's worth emphasizing that our goal here isn't to profit or even to drive interest in the conference (TED2007 is already sold out), but simply to find the widest possible audience for these talks.

About our partners: Along with BMW, we partnered with Adobe, Apple, Clickability, Feedburner, Google, Podzinger, StreamGuys, Typepad, VideoEgg, and WNYC (New York Public Radio) to bring TEDTalks to life.

April 21, 2006

Tom Rielly is Partnership Director at TED Conferences, LLC based in New York City.

Rielly is best known as the Founder and former CEO of PlanetOut.com, which joined forces with Gay.com to create the largest gay and lesbian online company with over 5 million monthly customers. Based in San Francisco, the company is now called PlanetOut, Inc. PlanetOut went public on the NASDAQ (Quote) in 2004. In 2006, PlanetOut added The Advocate, Out,OutTraveler magazines and RSVP Vacations to its media and travel holdings.

Rielly is also an accomplished actor, stand-up comic and satirist. His original satires, which close the annual TED
(Technology, Entertainment, and Design) conferences, receive standing
ovations year after year. His deadpan delivery combines cerebral musings, wordplay, original props, and classic slapstick, including concussion-inducing pratfalls,
bottles of olive oil drenching his head, or a dance duet with an inflatable lowlife woman.

His "warm up acts" have included evangelist Billy Graham and former Vice-President Al Gore. In 1980 he
played the role of Reissman in the feature film, My Bodyguard. He also performed at the TYPO conference twice, the largest graphic design conference in Europe, and at YPO University in Florence, as well as the Aspen Design Conference.

Before that, Rielly was Executive Vice-President of Acronym Media,
a high end direct marketing boutique agency that helps clients acquire
customers through Search Engine Marketing. Clients include SAP
Worldwide, Sirius Satellite Radio, AFL-CIO, DNC, The New York Gay and
Lesbian Community Center, Lydall, the John Kerry documentary film Going
Upriver, and Euro RSCG, the third largest advertising holding company.

PlanetOut was the recipient of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation Award for Outstanding Interactive Media, The Webby People’s
Voice Award for best community site, The AOL member’s choice award, and
the Microsoft Outstanding Content Provider Award. It received Yahoo!
Internet Life magazine’s Best of the Best ’98 and ’99.

In addition, Rielly received a medal for Outstanding Innovation in
Information Technology from the ComputerWorld/Smithsonian Awards.
PlanetOut was named one of Upside’s 100 hottest private companies, and
Rielly was named one of the Upside 100 most influential people in
Silicon Valley.

PlanetOut and Rielly have been the subject of stories in The New
York Times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment
Weekly, Out, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Advocate, and Advertising
Age, among others.

In 1991 Rielly worked with Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, MPH of the San
Francisco Board of Health to reach out to gay men in AOL chat rooms who
were contracting syphilis in alarming numbers. Their collaboration was
featured on the front page of the New York Times as well as many other
media outlets, and then published by Dr. Klausner in the New England
Journal of Medicine. PlanetOut, Inc. continues to offer education about
STDs accessible easily in all its chat rooms.

Previously, Rielly served as President and CEO of PlanetOut and held
senior marketing and sales posts at SuperMac, Radius, Farallon and the
Voyager Company.

Rielly is also creator, co-founder and board member of Digital
Queers an influential non-profit made up of technology professionals
who raise money to equip lesbian and gay civil rights organization with
modern computer technology. DQ also trains activists nationwide how to
use computer and online technology in their work. Since its founding in
1992, DQ has raised over a half million dollars in cash, goods and
services for these organizations.